The Life You Left Behind
by porkeepine
Summary: -Rewritten- Troy and Sharpay are suddenly awakened from their perfect life as a married couple when Troy learns that the daughter he's never heard of is in his full custody. -Troypay-Overall Centric- DISCONTINUED! PM me if you want it.
1. Farewells

**I feel so bad. All this time I've been bashing author ximcarebear for 'stealing my story' when she DIDN'T. I'm such a bitch. Ugh. Please forget all harsh words that I've said about her. My apologies all the way.  
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_**The Life You Left Behind**_

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_Chapter 1_

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Sharpay walked out of the airport and was immediately hit by the treacherous Albuquerque heat. She shrugged off her jean jacket and blankly looked down at its blue material, puzzled as to why exactly she'd put it on in 104 degree weather. She settled for the reasoning that she'd been on such a tight schedule. All of the recent chaos had just ended, though, when she'd dropped off her niece Alanna at the airport.

Alanna was six years old and Sharpay probably would have assumed she was a bipole if she hadn't known better. Ryan and his wife Nan had been on vacation in Norway for the past week, kind of as a second honeymoon-thing. Troy had been the one to suggest that Alanna stay with them in the first place. Sharpay would've never agreed to it otherwise. While she hoped to have children of her own in the future (actually, it was an iffy subject), Sharpay had never been good with other people's kids. Most of them hated her, and when she stumbled on the occasional wanna-be-Chanel-wearing princessy seven-year-old that actually looked up to her, she had to roll her eyes.

Troy, on the other hand loved kids. His main child-related argument with Sharpay was whether or not they should adopt. Sharpay's vote had always been nay, due to the phobia of other people's offspring. Troy disagreed. He himself had been adopted, and wanted to pass on his parents' "nobility" - as he called it - to the next generation. While Sharpay admired his "nobility", she just couldn't swallow the idea of adoption. She wasn't even 100 percent positively sure she wanted to be a mother at all.

Babysitting a kid like Alanna hadn't changed Sharpay's mind one bit. Sharpay stepped off the curb and began to make her way to area B12 of the airport. She found her black Lexus right where she'd parked it, and began to rummage through her handbag for her keys. She then pressed the 'unlock' button, and opened the driver's seat door. She sat in her seat for a moment, absorbing the car's conditioned air. Finally she sighed and put the Lexus into reverse.

Sharpay considered pulling into Mad Greens, her favorite salad bar, for some lunch. No, she decided. This newfound peace called for a calorie splurge. She turned her turn signal on at the closest Starbucks. When she entered the little coffee shop, the man at the counter laughed.

"Sharpay Evans?" he jeered. "Eating at a coffeeshop?" Sharpay narrowed her eyes at the bushy haired guy, recognizing him instantly as her arch-antagonist from her glory days at East High.

"Chad Danforth?" she responded. "_Working_ at a coffeeshop?"

Burn.

"Alright, you got me. But seriously, what are you doing here. Last time I checked you were at the top of the list of Stuck Up Anorexics That Will Starve to Death Before the Age of Thirty. Did you forget that this place sells fat by the caffeinated pound?"

"No. I'm celebrating," Sharpay replied, jutting her chin out in the snooty air she was famous for.

"Celebrating? Celebrating what?"

"Ryan's kid stayed with us this week, and I finally got to ship her back to Miami. When did you get a job here?"

"Last Sunday my parents kicked me out. My mom was like, 'You're a grown man now - twenty-five years old. Get off your duff, get a job, and stay off this couch.' Apparently there's a problem with watching ESPN all day or something," Chad told Sharpay. Sharpay rolled her eyes in reply and ordered a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and hot cocoa.

"Sheesh. When you eat, you really eat, don't you?" Chad commented on the extreme load of calories. Sharpay sighed before giving him a very mature 'talk to the hand' gesture. She sat down at one of the tables and looked up at the cheesy soap opera that was on the mounted television. Some lady was yelling at some guy named Fabio or something about how he had cheated on her with yada yada yada. Sharpay wrinkled her nose.

"Yo, Danforth!" she called. Chad sauntered back up to the counter to see what Sharpay wanted.

"What now?"

"Can you change the channel, please?" she asked, replacing the impish look on her face with an innocent one. He groaned and pulled a chair up to the television so he could reach the controls. As he began to flip through the various channels, Sharpay watched carefully to see what was on each station.

_'...ABCs and 123s and how to be a friend. Barn...'_

_'...for three payments of 19.95!..'_

_'...Big money! Big money!..'_

Sharpay shook her head at each one. Then, she froze, her mouth hanging open.

_'... was raped and shot by two teenage boys. She is believed to be Gabriella Montez of Boston, Massachusetts. Miss Montez was reported missing last night at 9 o'clock. Sources have been contacted to verify the victim's body...'_

Chad fell off the chair in shock.

"Oh... my... goodness," Sharpay said, barely being able to form the words. Chad just lay on the floor, eyes wide open as he hyperventilated.

"Sharpay?" he quietly whispered. "Is this really happening?" Sharpay slowly brought her fingertips to her forearm to pinch herself. The smooth skin grew red as she tried to rub the stinging away.

"Yeah. Chad... Gabi's dead." Sharpay let her head fall to the table with a bang, only narrowly missing her untouched muffin. She let out a whimper, which soon transformed into a quiet sob. Chad carefully sat up and rubbed his throbbing head. He stood up and walked over to where the blonde, whom he had made fun of since he was a kid, was now pouring out tears.

"Sharpay?" he asked. Do you want me to call Troy to pick you up?" Chad could hardly believe the situation himself. He couldn't imagine how Troy, his best friend since fifth grade _and_ Gabriella's ex-boyfriend, was going to take this news. He looked down at Sharpay to see her slightly shaking her head. She looked up at him, her mascara - which was supposed to be waterproof - streaming down her face, her eyes turning redder by the second.

"No Chad. I can't disturb him when he's working," she hoarsely answered.

"Sharpay Evans!" he exclaimed.

"Bolton," she dolefully reminded him.

"Sharpay Bolton, then. Your friend... JUST DIED! Troy is not going to care if you call him about this!" he told her.

Sharpay shook her head again.

"I'm not ready to tell him. How heartbroken do you think he's going to be, anyways?! This will destroy him if I don't think of the right way to tell him."

"And... what is the right way to tell him?"

Sharpay quickly stood, pushing her muffin and cocoa towards Chad.

"You can eat it," she quickly told him. He gave her a confused look as she stormed out of the coffeeshop. After thinking for a moment, he followed her. Before she could get into her car, he called after her.

"Where are you going?!" he yelled across the parking lot. Sharpay got into her Lexus, slamming the door behind her as Chad waited for an explanation. She started the car and backed it up, out of it's parking space. She slowed down at the Starbucks entrance where Chad still stood.

"I'm going to go tell him," she said as another tear dripped down her cheek. She pulled down the mirror and fixed her makeup before once again, taking off.

Chad fell against the brick wall of the coffeeshop, trying not to cry himself. 'This isn't happening,' he repeated over and over in his head. He slowly stripped his forest green apron off and headed to his car. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed a number he hadn't called in what seemed like a decade.

"Heyo, you've reached Gabriella and Colby Montez. We're probably off messing around or something, so leave your name and number after the beep," said Gabriella's answering machine. "We'll get back to you ASAP!" another voice said, this one sounding way younger and girlier than Gabriella's. Then came the beep. Chad was even more confused than he had been initially. He had no idea who this Colby Montez was. Was it the other voice on the phone? He had no idea.

"Oh, Gabi," he finally groaned, his voice breaking into a sobbing mess. "Please call back." He pressed 'end'. and closed his phone. As he started his car, he knew what he had to do. He whipped out his phone again and pressed zero.

"Operator," said a woman's voice.

"I need a listing for a Taylor McKessie... in ummm... Boston?" Chad whispered. Before he knew it, he could hear his ex-girlfriend's phone ringing.

"Hello," said a voice even hoarser than Sharpay's had been.

"Who's Colby?" Chad immediately asked.

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**Duuuuude. That was seriously WAY better than the first time around! I'll update as soon as I think of some more ideas, 'tay?**

**-Sami**


	2. Uncomfortable Situations

**So I've decided that this story is no longer a Troypay/Sharcent. It's more of a Troypay/Overall Centric/Troyella. The Troyella will be in the past of course, and it's not going to be the basis of the story. The main change is the centric part. It wouldn't really make sense to have Sharpay as the only severely depressed character. I just thought I'd let you know...**

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_**The Life You Left Behind**_

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_Chapter 2_

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"Mr. Bolton, your wife would like to talk to you," Troy Bolton's secretary's voice buzzed over the intercom. "She says it's urgent." Troy pressed the 'talk' button. 

"That's fine. Put her through, Amy," he replied, only to be interrupted again.

"No sir. She's here to see you." Troy furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion and concern. Sharpay hated coming to his office. It was another of her strange phobias. That's another story, though.

"Send her in right away," he commanded hurriedly. A moment later, Amy stepped into his office, Sharpay in tow... Except it looked nothing like her. Troy carefully studied his wife. For the first time in his life, he was seeing her as someone unperfect. Drowning out his worried thoughts on why she'd actually come, he focused on the moment. Her hair was everywhere, mussed and matted. Her makeup was smeared and uneven, her eyes firetruck red underneath. This wasn't drama queen Sharpay. No. This was a traumatized Sharpay - who wasn't just crying over spilled milk; he could tell that right away. This wasn't the Sharpay that pouted and whined when he opted for McDonalds. This was someone else. Someone completely alien to Troy Bolton.

Troy blankly stared, suddenly unsure of how to handle a situation like this. Sharpay didn't seem capable of looking him in the eye. Amy, however, gave Troy a strange look, before huffing in an 'I have to do everything myself' tone.

"Just sit down dear. Just calm down," Amy soothed, guiding Sharpay to a chair as another broken sob slipped out her throat. Amy shrugged at Troy and mouthed "Good luck." Troy looked back at where his wife sat. He deeply inhaled before he cleared his throat loudly. Sharpay didn't even look up.

"Ummm... Shar?" he tried. She still made no effort to acknowledge him. She just continued to cry, each heave of breath becoming more stressed. Troy was beginning to get seriously uncomfortable with the situation at hand. He slowly stood up and walked over to where Sharpay's chair was. He awkwardly kneeled beside her and stroked her hair. She suddenly threw her arms around his neck and burried her face in his left shoulder. He closed his eyes and rubbed her back, still confused as to what this whole ordeal was about. Sharpay was tough. She may have been a crybaby, but that was solely because she was used to getting her way. He would've never imagined her capable of tears this severe.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on, or what?" Troy finally asked gently. Sharpay detached herself from Troy's arm and looked down at her hands. She didn't speak for a very long while, and Troy tried to be as patient as possible. Finally, she tried to talk.

"So..." she croaked. "I went to drop off Alanna, and then I left, and I was like, 'This is worth celebrating!'" Sharpay began. Troy laughed, receiving a glare.

"So I decided to stop at Starbucks. Well, as it turns out, Chad got a job there." Troy gave Sharpay a wide-eyed look, but she stopped him from saying anything with a wave of her hand. "So I ordered my stuff, and yeah," she said. At first, Troy thought she was done. What was so bad about that. All of a sudden though, Sharpay burst into a fresh set of tears. Troy waited again, expecting her to just sob for a while as she had done before. But his day was full of surprises.

"So then I sit down," Sharpay sniffled, becoming serious, her eyes widening. "And I start watching it, but Chad changes the channel, because it was a stupid soap opera."

Troy nodded along at certain intervals, wondering if this story was ever going to get to some kind of point.

"And the news was on. And there was this lady in Boston," her voice broke again. "And she was... She was raped... then murdered." She was finished; Troy knew that for sure now. But why was Sharpay so distraught over this? She rarely cared about anyone other than herself, or so it seemed. Why would somebody on the other side of the country affect her in even the slightest way?

"Okayy... So what does this have to do with anyth..." Troy asked, but was interrupted.

"Gar-yella" Sharpay whimpered. Troy gave her a look that suggested she might be insane.

"Huh?"

"It was..."

"What?" Troy asked. He was getting very frustrated from her inability to tell him this information that was apparently super important.

"Gabriella," she whispered to him. Troy turned his gaze from his wife to the blank wall in front of him. Had she really just said Gabriella's name? No. That couldn't have been what she'd said. Could it?

"Gab... riella?" he asked her, his own voice cracking. Sharpay nodded. He crouched down on the floor and sat Indian-style. He slid Sharpay onto his lap, and she willingly subdued herself to him. He wrapped his arms around her limp figure and hugged her tight. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and fingered his hair. They rocked back and forth on silence - both too despaired to say anything more.

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Chad dropped his cell phone on the pavement. 

What?

Gabriella had a kid? ...named Colby, as Taylor had just informed him. Could that have been why she'd left? But surely Troy had seen her since she moved away over half a decade ago. Or maybe Sharpay had stayed in some kind of contact? Why was this such a secret? How could Taylor have been the only one of the original East High brat pack to be enlightened?

Chad heard a loud yapping noise from his phone on the ground and quickly bent down to pick it up.

"Did you seriously_ drop_ your phone? I didn't think it was _that_ shocking..." Taylor commented.

"Well, this kid's what? Six? That's how long this has been a secret?" Chad said. Taylor snorted.

"She's seven."

"That doesn't actually make the situation any better. How could you two keep this from us back here?" Chad asked, infuriated. Taylor heavily sighed.

"Well maybe Gabriella was embarrassed that she'd had an illegitimate kid! Wouldn't you be ashamed if you ended up pregnant and unmarried at twenty years old?"

Chad's face twisted. "I don't mean to make a joke out of this, Tay, but if I ended up pregnant, I'd probably die of shock."

"Psh. Chad, you know just as well as I do that this isn't funny. My best friend is dead. Her daughter is, as I heard it, being shipped over to her father after the reading of the will. And he doesn't even know she exists!" Taylor screamed into the telephone.

"Well, this is news. The screwball that got her into this mess doesn't even know?"

"See, that's why I'm glad you called!"

"What do I have to do with anything?" Chad asked, confused by Taylor's fake excitement.

"Well you know, I was thinking it would be nice if you were the one that went to tell Troy that his daughter's going to be here by next week," Taylor paused to wait for Chad's reaction. Chad said nothing. He knew that if he'd thought about it, he would have eventually known this new development in the situation. But right then, he really wasn't up to facing it.

"Oh. And Chad? You might want to get to them before they get their court note."

Chad screamed. "What?!" But Taylor had already hung up.

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Sharpay and Troy entered their apartment building. A word had not been spoken since "Gabriella", and it was constantly becoming more and more awkward. They approached the elevator, ignoring the smiles and greetings their neighbors gave them. As the couple rode up to the eighth level, Sharpay stared down at her feet, finally letting it sink in that Gabriella was actually dead. When they arrived at the apartment, she fished out her key from her purse, handing it to Troy. He helped her inside. He hadn't even had the chance to close the door when Sharpay shrieked at the top of her lungs. Troy ran into the living room where he had left her. 

"Shar? What is it?" he asked, entering to find his wife and best friend caught in an embrace.

"Oh! It's just Chad," Troy breathed in relief. Chad looked up at him and sadly nodded. Sharpay let go of him and let him find his way to the couch. Troy then took a seat beside him, and Sharpay sat in a recliner.

"So... I guess you heard about Gab-- about what happened," Chad awkwardly said to Troy. Troy nodded.

"Is that why you came, Chad?" Sharpay quietly asked. Troy looked over to her, once again studying the morose expression on her face. Chad began to nod, but then profusely shook his head. Sharpay wrinkled her forehead.

"I called Taylor after you left... Well, actually I called Ga... _her_ before I called Tay." It was clear Chad was too afraid to use Gabriella's name. "And I got the answering machine. And... um... it was the weirdest thing. Because she said something about a Colby. And I had no idea what that meant. So I called Taylor, and she told me that..."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Chad immediately stopped speaking, and Troy slowly stood up to answer the door. He opened it to find a short brunette woman holding out an envelope to him.

"Someone dropped this off for you," she said hurriedly, pushed her bangs back.

"Thanks," he replied and shut the door in her face. As he walked back to the living room, he slowly tore the seal on the envelope and pulled out a crisp white paper. He stood before Sharpay and Chad while he silently read to himself from the paper.

"It's a umm... a letter from the department of um... social services." He looked at the note with disbelieving eyes.

"Let me see it, hon," Sharpay said in her raspy voice. He dropped the paper in her lap before sinking into the couch. Chad patted his best friend's back knowingly.

Sharpay began to read. "The state of Massachusetts hereby grants full custody of Colby Erin Bolton-Montez to Troy Bolton, as stated in the will of Gabriella Rose Montez." Her face plainly showed her confusion. "What is this?"

"I am not sure. But I think... I think it means..." Troy looked questioningly at Chad as he spoke. "I think it means I have a... a kid."

"Yeah. That's what I was trying to tell you before the note came. It's what Taylor told me back when I call..." Chad tried to say, but was interrupted when Sharpay burst into tears all over again. Troy numbly sat on the couch, staring at a random wall.

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**So I've been working on that for about a week. I finally finished while watching **_**Three Amigos**_**. PLEASE R&R!! This was really hard to write, and I want to know how well I did. Also, I've updated by blog recently, so you can go over there for more story information.**

**-Sami**


	3. Help

**The Life You Left Behind: AUTHOR'S NOTE!!**

_Please read and respond to this... It's pretty important._

So sorry. I know I haven't updated this in a while, and I feel really bad about it, but it's mainly because I'm stuck. I have too many ideas for the next chapter, and I don't really like any of them, so yeah. I might delete this story... I might not. Whichever is the case, I probably won't update for a while. If you want to help me with this story, you can give me ideas. That would be grrrrreat...

**-Sami**

**P.S.** _One story that I WILL be updating on a regular basis (hopefully) is my new one, "What Happens In Vegas," where Troy and Sharpay elope while drunk... If you haven't already, you could check it out. It's in need of a few more reviews :D_


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